


Why Geese?

by konokomi



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 09:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1935672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/konokomi/pseuds/konokomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the rebellion, Haymitch went back to District 12 and chose to live out his life as a drunken geese farmer.</p>
<p>So... why <em>geese</em>?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why Geese?

Katniss looked out the hole in the curtains and watched some of Haymitch's geese frolic around with each other and honk their way across his front lawn in between bites of whatever he'd managed to cook up for dinner (she wasn't entirely sure what it was, but it was at least _edible_ ). She wasn't sure if things would ever return to _normal_ for either of them, for _anyone_ , but it was nice to have some semblance of normality. Still, there was something that had been weighing on her mind lately.

She turned back from the window and sipped some water before asking, “Why geese?”

Haymitch paused with his glass of whiskey an inch or so from his mouth. “Hm?”

“Why geese?” she repeated, motioning out the window at the dozen or so geese scattered about. “Of everything to raise, why _geese_?”

With a shrug, he replied, “They're kinda funny, I guess,” and Katniss shrugged as well before going back to her food.

* * *

It wasn't like Peeta disliked Haymitch – quite the opposite, in fact – but he did have a pretty good reason to dislike having to make the trek through his geese-covered front yard whenever he came over to visit.  _Especially_ when he stopped by with fresh bread for him and ended up surrounded on all sides by murderous hungry water fowl. Though it wasn't always when he had bread; in fact, it was  _most_ of the time. The downsides of baking bread for a living, he supposed.

One of the geese had successfully managed to maneuver its head into Peeta's pants by the time Haymitch answered the door and laughed a little at the sight of Peeta looking thoroughly uncomfortable with the turn of events.

Peeta shifted from one side to the other in the hopes of getting the goose away from his rather... tender parts. “Hey, Haymitch,” he said, strained from trying to ignore the bird in his pants. “I brought some bread. Just made it this afternoon.”

“Thanks, kid,” Haymitch replied, tilting his head a little. “Having fun there? He seems to like you.”

“The feeling isn't exactly mutual,” Peeta said, shooing the goose away from him. “I _really_ have to ask – why geese?”

Haymitch shrugged a shoulder and said, “Guess I just like the company.”

* * *

Effie Trinket was, undoubtedly, a lady of extravagance and luxury, and no matter how many times she visited the districts, she never managed to look any less out of place than the last time. Of course, it wasn't like her to leave the Capitol too often (having become too accustomed to Capitol life to want to experience anything less, despite her experiences of the few years previous), but she had grown rather fond of the District 12 victors in her time with them during the Games and what followed, Haymitch especially after having spent the most amount of time with him since the 50 th Games.

But every time, _every time_ , without fail, she _always_ ended up swatting damned geese away with a glove just trying to visit her beloved friends. The little devils had some kind of grudge against her it seemed, always trying to nip at the hem of her dress or the sleeve of her coat or even the very glove she was trying to swat them away with.

It was _ridiculous_.

She huffed and smacked away two more geese as she shuffled around to the back of his residence in her typical high heels, kicking around dirt as she did so. “Haymitch!” she called out, whacking another goose. “Haymitch, dear, your _creatures_ are attacking me again.”

“They do that, yeah,” he replied from the backyard, patting a goose on the head and looking up bemusedly to see Effie stepping lightly toward him as another goose honks at her indignantly.

“Honestly,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why geese? You could be doing anything with your life and you choose to spend it on these _offensive_ beasts. I'll never understand you!”

“They're just geese, Effie. You make it sound like they've got a personal vendetta against you.”

She huffed again. “With the way they act, it's hard not to assume as such! Chickens, I could understand, but _geese_? Ridiculous!”

He scratched another goose under the beak and said, “Maybe I'm just crazy.”

“You certainly must be!”

* * *

If there was one thing Johanna would probably never stop hating, it was trains. Well, among a lot of other things, of course, but trains were especially annoying. Unfortunately, it was the quickest and most efficient way to travel between the districts (a new thing!), most notably when one had to travel from District 7 to District 12 in as little time as possible.

It probably would have helped had Katniss been _home_ when Johanna decided to stop by, but apparently the world decided it was out to piss her off.

At least there was only one other place she could be, so it wasn’t as though it was _all_ bad – just irritating and inconveniencing. She sighed heavily and trudged over to Haymitch’s place only to trip over a fucking goose and land with her face in the dirt. After a moment spent swearing quietly she stood up and stared the goose that had tripped her down with an icy stare that could instill fear in the heart of even the strongest of men, a stare that could freeze boiling water solid with a single gaze.

It honked.

She honked back before flipping it the bird for good measure.

“Enjoying yourself?” Haymitch asked from the doorway, raising an eyebrow at Johanna.

“Your idiotic pest tripped me, so no, not really,” she spat back. “Is Katniss here?”

“Yeah, she’s inside with Peeta. Long time no see.”

She made some kind of noise in agreement and walked past him into the house, muttering, “Why the _hell_ would you choose _geese_?”

Haymitch just shrugged in response and followed her to the kitchen.

* * *

Witnessing District 12 rebuild itself after all the shit it was put through was an experience of a lifetime, even if said experience tended to bring a lot of trouble-making kids around with nothing to do. The tougher jobs were usually left to the adults while the kids had smaller responsibilities and a  _lot_ of free-time.

Free-time they liked to use to gallivant around where they shouldn’t be.

They weren’t bad kids, of course. Just bored. But that certainly didn’t stop Haymitch from enjoying the small things about this turn of events when he could. He watched a few of his geese chase some hooligans off his property and laughed quietly into his glass of scotch.

Why geese, indeed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i blame ci for everything about this


End file.
